Brough should be disendorsed over menu: Gillard

Mal Brough is already under a cloud because of his close association with former political aide James Ashby in the lead up to Mr Ashby’s move to formulate charges against former speaker Peter Slipper.
Photo: Harrison Saragossi

Julia Gillard has called for controversial Liberal National Party candidate
Mal Brough to be disendorsed for the seat of Fisher after the emergence of a dinner menu that contained sexist and offensive references to the Prime Minister at a fundraiser for Mr Brough.

It also has a a shot at former prime minister Kevin Rudd by listing “Rudd’s a goose foie gras", while a note on the menu warns “please ensure you eat up all your greens before they take over completely".

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott condemned the menu on Wednesday but said Mr Brough’s candidacy was “absolutely not" under threat.

Ms Gillard said Mr Abbott’s refusal to disendorse Mr Brough is part of a pattern of behaviour.

“This is Tony Abbott’s Liberals, this is what they are like," she said.

“The real risk for Australia is that if Mr Abbott was ever to be prime minister it wouldn’t be a question of what is on fundraising menus, we’d see this lack of respect for women littered throughout all of his policy documents."

“Lets go through the pattern of behaviour here. Mr Abbott personally has gone and stood next to signs that describe me in a sexist way. We have had the young Liberals hosting a function where jokes were cracked about the death of my father. And now we have Mr Brough and Mr Hockey at a function with this grossly sexist and offensive menu on display. Join the dots."

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Ms Gillard said there was a “great deal of convenience" in Mr Hockey and Mr Brough’s claims that they had not seen the menu.

“Mr Brough is retaining his endorsement. Presumably if Mr Abbott becomes prime minister, Mr Brough will be a senior minister in the Abbott government. Is Mr Abbott ruling out giving him the portfolio of the status of women?"

Ms Gillard also criticised backbench MPs Stephen Jones and Ed Husic, who both expressed discomfort at Ms Gillard’s speech on abortion on Tuesday.

“Neither Mr Jones nor Mr Husic were in parliament when Liberal Party women rebelled when Tony Abbott was health minister, so concerned were they about the attitude he was taking to RU486. I was in parliament, I was shadow health minister."

The Brisbane-based fundraiser for Mr Brough took place at the Richards and Richards restaurant on March 28 this year and was also attended by shadow treasurer
Joe Hockey
. It was attended by about 30 people and is said to have cost between $1000 and $2000 per head.

Mr Abbott said: “I condemn it, as Mal Brough has.

“I think we should all be bigger and better than that. Whether it is a tacky scatalogical menu out the front of a Liberal Party event, whether it is squalid jokes told at union conference dinners with a minister present, whatever it is, I think we should be better than that, we should be appealing to every Australian’s best self".

Menu ‘should never have been written’: Brough

Mr Brough has apologised for a “deeply regrettable, offensive and sexist" menu, telling the ABC that he “didn’t condone the menu nor did I authorise it ... it should never have been written". The Australian Financial Review has attempted to contact Mr Brough.

Mr Rudd, who has been accused of destabilising Ms Gillard in recent days, took aim at Mr Brough as he campaigned with a Labor candidate in the western Sydney seat of Barton.

“I couldn’t care less about myself but I’ve heard something about the references to the Prime Minister," Mr Rudd said on Wednesday. “Can I just say this about Mr Brough [who is] from my home state of Queensland: number one, he’s a former minister of the Howard government, number two, he’s a highly experienced politician, number three, he organised the fundraiser which used all these menus.

“Four, it wasn’t a mistake, he knew it was being used [and] five, he’s apologised because he’s been found out.

“I think this says everything about Mr Brough and Mr Brough should be doing more than apologising. Mr Brough should be taking a long, hard look at himself because this sort of behaviour is not appropriate in the twenty-first century."

Mr Rudd said that “every dollar" raised by the Liberals from the dinner should be donated to the RSPCA as a mark of his contrition.

Mr Brough was not a politically inexperienced “bozo" and had “thought he could get away with a snide, dirty, and I think sexist trick in his own electorate", Mr Rudd said.

‘Juvenile, offensive, puerile’

Mr Hockey, who attended the fundraiser, tweeted on Wednesday: “I don’t recall ever seeing any such menu. It is offensive and inappropriate, whenever it was put out, and it is now."

The Queensland Liberal National Party has also released a statement condemning the menu.

“This card was not produced or authorised by the LNP or the candidate. The content of the card was absolutely unacceptable and has no place at any LNP event,’’ the statement said.

Trade Minister Craig Emerson said the menu was “vulgar and vile" and it was implausible for Mr Hockey and Mr Brough to claim they had not seen the menu on the table.

“The reason that the menu would have been prepared in that way, in the first place, was that it was a fundraising functions and obviously a matter of great mirth to the Liberals that were there,’’ he said.

“Mr Hockey should have said then that this was disgraceful and unacceptable."

Gender wars

The publication of the menu has dampened Coalition attacks on Ms Gillard’s move to draw on gender to shore up her support.

Mr Brough is already under a cloud because of his close association with former political aide James Ashby in the lead up to Mr Ashby’s move to formulate charges against former speaker
Peter Slipper
.

Initially, Mr Brough denied any role in the matter.

The photo was originally posted by Twitter user @Chef09876, who gave his name only as “Dave" when contacted by The Australian Financial Review. He said he had seen the image on the Facebook page of another employee from the restaurant and decided to share it on the social network.

“I just copied it. I tried to tweet it after the function, to send it to Julia Gillard, the Labor party, [Sky news presenter] Peter Van Onselen and Kevin Rudd, my local member, but I didn’t get a reply from any of them. I don’t know if they were too busy to notice them at the time,’’ he said.

“Dave" has subsequently clarified on Twitter that he did not attempt to contact Mr Rudd.

Restaurant manager Josephine, who didn’t provide her last name, has confirmed the fundraiser took place on March 28 but said it was a private function and would provide no further information.